Earth Almanac
TRIFOLIUMSTOLONIFERUMBY LUCILEMCCOOK,MISSOURIBOTANICALGARDEN(BELOW);AMOSNACHOUM
Bringing Back a Clover
to Its Missouri Roots
--
uffalo clover... nearly knee
Shigh ... afforded a rich pas
ture." In 1788 an image of
the fertile frontier near Marietta,
Ohio, was penned by historian S. P.
Hildreth. The native plant that he
saw in such abundance, the running
buffalo clover, once flourished from
the eastern Great Plains to West
Virginia. Now it is an endangered
species. But reintroduction efforts
are under way in Missouri, thanks in
part to a botanist who discovered
the clover-unseen in his state since
1907-growing in his backyard.
"In1989Ihad aload oftop
soil delivered at home,
and soon afterward I
was astounded to
find running buffa
lo clover growing in
it," says George
Yatskievych of the
Missouri Depart
ment of Conserva
tion. He and his
colleagues tracked
down the source of the
topsoil, but they could find no
other specimens. So George's six
homegrown clovers were cultivated.
All told, some 700 seedlings have
been planted in 25 sites. Last
summer's floodwaters
claimed two of the clo
ver plots.
The plant sends
out long runners
explaining the first
part of its name-
and buffalo fed on
it, dispersing the
seeds. Botanists are
uncertain why it de
clined, but the buffalo's
decimation in the eastern
Great Plains and large-scale loss
of habitat are likely causes.
NationalGeographic, January1994